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Job Hunting Tips for2011 - Be Proactive

As the calendar turns many people will begin their job searches anew. Recent numbers suggest the economy may be finally turning and companies may begin hiring again. With this in mind Mrim Boutla over at JustMeans has a good post on how to make your job search proactive. She lists three things everyone should do to improve their job hunting prospects in 2011. One that really caught our eye here at Quality-Resumes was the idea of following a company via their social media well before applying.

Importantly, remember that hiring managers are busy and will therefore use strategies that will save them time while quickly assessing how truly interested in their organization you are. To do so, they are likely to check if you are following their company on twitter or other social media channels. And, of course, it does not send a good signal if you are not. Similarly, if you only started following a company on twitter two weeks ago, it might not be in your interest to start your cover letter with 'I have been admiring and following the growth of your company for a long time'. Trust me, in numerous conversations with hiring managers and recruiters, this one has come up often. Given the growing importance of social media presence in hiring decision, it is best for you to be ready rather than sorry. Therefore, for each of the organizations you identified using the resources above, make sure to follow them on twitter, facebook and LinkedIn. In addition, make sure to do the same of key people. In addition, make sure to find out if these key people have blogs that you want to start reading. For example, if you are interested in marketing, follow not only the organization's main twitter account, but also follow their Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Furthermore, find out if the CMO has a blog, and if so, start reading his/her blog entries. Feel free to offer additional information via twitter or a comment on a blog post. Starting an informal information sharing conversation online can go a long way in building a relationship as well as learning more about whether this company is really a good fit for you.

We recommend the entire article for additional job search tips. As you scout for new possible employment targets don't forget to follow us as well!